Lessons in Life and Death

The Pettys, the winningest family in stock-car history, learn a new definition of the word 'winning.'

One day last March, a potato farmer from North Dakota named Tommy Holm started telephoning Martha Jane Bonkemeyer, Richard Petty's personal secretary, seeking an appointment to see the King.

Maybe it was the long, cold winter up there hard against the Canadian border, or maybe it was something in his own brief career as a racer, but Holm, who also raises cattle on his farm 60 miles northwest of Grand Forks, just had to see Richard Petty.

Martha Jane told Tommy that Richard would be seeing a few fans the following Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in the Richard Petty Museum there in Level Cross, and that if he wanted to come all the way to North Carolina, Holm could see him then.

So Tommy Holm drove to Grand Forks and got on a plane and then another and was there in the museum waiting on that Wednesday morning when the King walked in right on time, dressed in full uniform: jeans, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, sunglasses, leather racing jacket, and mile-wide smile.

Petty's manner showed he was in no hurry. First he talked with a small group of fans, posed for pictures with them, and signed autographs. Then he greeted a New England couple who just happened to drop by the museum. They came in the front door, and their mouths fell agape when they noticed Petty himself standing there like some sort of celebrity impersonator.

When Petty was done with everyone else, he turned to Tommy Holm and said, "So you flew all the way from North Dakota, huh? C'mon, let's go over here." And the King took him toward the back of the museum to give themselves some privacy. For the next 15 minutes, the King listened and laughed and chatted, and gave Tommy Holm exactly what he was hoping to get.

Later, Petty smiled and said, "He just sets up there right on the Canadian border. He talks like a Canadian, anyway. I guess he just gets to thinking about this stuff and he wanted to see what was goin' on. So he jumped on an airplane to come to Level Cross, by hisself, specifically to speak to me. That's a heck of a deal if you think about it."

Richard Petty has always been this way with his fans. He reaches out to them with a level of warmth unequaled in stock-car racing. In return, they have adored him.